Archaeologists dated a range of paintings including animals such as bantengs, a species of wild cattle.

Supplied: Pindi Setiawan

We have no idea who painted a large red animal on the walls of a remote cave in Borneo at least 40,000 years ago, but their work is the oldest-known example of figurative rock art in the world, according to new research.

Rock art key points

Key points:

A number of caves in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan contain thousands rock art images of animals, hand stencils and symbols

Sophisticated dating of the paintings shows the earliest paintings were created at least 40,000-52,000 years ago

Paintings shifted from animals to humans at the peak of the Ice Age between 20,000-21,000 years ago

The painting possibly depicts a species of wild cattle known as a banteng.

And it was created at least 5,000 years earlier than animal paintings on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and caves in France, which until now were thought to be the oldest examples of this kind of rock art.

The Borneo banteng is part of a panel of rock art that includes hand stencils thought to be at least 37,500 years old, a team of Australian and Indonesian scientists reports today in the journal Nature.

The new dates suggest figurative rock art depicting the natural world evolved in different parts of the world at roughly the same time, said Maxime Aubert, an archaeologist and geochemist from Griffith University.

"We know that modern humans arrived [around 40,000 years ago] in Europe, but they were in South-East Asia at least 20,000 years before that and also Australia," Dr Aubert said.

"It gives us an idea of how art may have developed through time."

Rich galleries of art through the ages

Dr Aubert and his colleagues dated rock art from several caves in rugged limestone outcrops, in the Indonesian province of Kalimantan on the eastern side of Borneo.

He said the paintings reminded him of the enigmatic Gwion Gwion rock art in northern Australia.

"But we are not implying that it's the same people who made them," he said.

The shift from animal to human paintings seen in South-East Asia also happened in Europe, he added.

"There's more and more of the human depiction in rock art in Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum," he said.

The third wave of rock artin the Borneo caveswas created using charcoal.

"We think it is associated with the first Neolithic farmers that arrived there maybe 4,000 years ago," Dr Aubert said.

He said the changes in artistic style may have been due to different waves of people moving through the region, increases in population, or other pressures driving innovation.

Rock art highlights importance of South-East Asia

Sue O'Connor, an archaeologist at the Australian National University, said the cave art in Sulawesi and Borneo is "some of the most important rock art anywhere in the world".

"They're not just single motifs, they're not just one site, they are very, very rich bodies of rock art," said Professor O'Connor, an expert in Australian and South-East Asian rock art, who was not involved in the study.

She said the similarity of art between Borneo and Sulawesi support models published by her team, suggesting modern humans may have taken a northerly route through South-East Asia to Australia at a time when Borneo was still part of the Asian mainland.

Map showing location of caves in Borneo in relation to the rest of SE Asia during the Ice Age

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